Elektronika Demonika

ELEKTRONIKA DEMONIKA

(LP - Locust Music, 2006)

A1 Untitled

A2 Untitled

B1 Untitled

B2 Untitled

"Elektronika Demonika, a limited edition LP release by Sun City Girls' inimitable Rick Bishop, begins with horrifying incantations before launching into an eerie wash of synthesizers that recalls Ruth White's classic Flowers of Evil. From here, it's clear that this isn't your typical Rick Bishop release (as if there were such a thing!). While Bishop has ben largely working with guitar these past few years, the sounds of Elektronika Demonika are mostly generated with synthesizers and shortwave radio transmissions, often sounding like a John Carpenter score created by the sort of person who might title an album Fingering The Devil. Side two is where it really gets scary, opening with sinister hand percussion before getting sucked into a black vacuum, which slows things to an ominous crawl. The final track is the most compositionally meticulous, as bursts of short delay are layered until they are rendered an incomprehensible chasmal blur, at which time another incantation begins. Have you ever heard a shrill whisper? If I were to guess, methinks Sir Richard has been trading occult books for Moonblood LPs on eBay. And if I didn't know him to be such a gentleman, I'd assume that Elektronika Demonika is the work of a raving madman and leave it at that. Despite this or because of it, it's an absolute masterpiece from start to finish."